[embedding-shape]

Is the entire utcc.utoronto.ca return 403 or just utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks? Maybe it's no longer common knowledge, but the ~string part typically means it's hosted in a way so individual unix users can somewhat control their own environments, sometimes with .htaccess files or other things, and adjust the responses from the web-servers somewhat.

Anyways, the point being that it might not be the university doing it, but an individual user. I guess the former would be kind of shitty, but the latter is maybe ok as individuals should be able to chose freely?

FWIW, both the domain at large + this specific URL seems to work fine for me in Spain.

[extraduder_ire]

The "server" header says it's apache, so there could be a .htaccess file in that directory with the rules for that.

Trying to load any url under ~/cks/ starting with .ht gives a generic "Forbidden" response, and other urls like .foo give a "Not Found" error.

[pitched]

You got it, it’s just ~cks not letting me in. The University itself is still good.

[embedding-shape]

Got curious, tried to figure out what exactly is being blocked, and came across this, unsure if it just applies to emails, maybe not: https://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/sysadmin/OnBlocking... (https://hastebin.com/share/fipayoqofo.vbnet)

> [...] An open Internet is a great thing, and it would be nice to have one. But it is now less and less compatible with running systems that are useful to their users. I hate firewalling off large chunks of the net from our mailer, but I would hurt even more from our users fleeing email because of spam. And so I firewall. [...]

[pitched]

I am getting Forbidden when connecting from a cheap (but Canadian!) VPN but allowed through with a pricier one. So it isn’t geo-based blocking, probably more like a per-IP request limit.